Protectors
by PerrythePlatypusGirl
Summary: A theft occurs at the San Fransokyo Museum during a class field trip, leaving Riley injured. Her parents are shaken up by the incident and decide it might be best to move once again. Riley is nowhere near happy about this, but that changes when she comes face-to-face with the young heroes who saved her life.


_"Hey!"_

 _The voice buzzed in her head as the young girl struggled to open her eyes. She was in a lot of pain, but she wasn't sure why. Her mind was in a blur and her movements were slow, as she tried to remember where she was and what was happening._

 _"Hey, are you okay?" the voice asked again._

 _The girl finally managed to open her eyes ever so slightly. Her surroundings were dark and hazy, as if there was a lot of smoke in the air for some reason. In her pained state, she was barely able to make out the image of two figures leaning over her. One appeared to be a teenage human boy, and the other was a massive and quite terrifying robot. If she wasn't so weak, she would have gulped in fear._

 _"Can you hear me?" The boy asked her. "Are you okay?"_

 _This time, she finally answered. "Y...yes...?"_

 _"Don't worry," the boy responded, sounding more relieved than before. "We're here to help you." He turned to his robot standing next to him. "Baymax, take care of her," he commanded. "I'm going to go find the others."_

 _Much to her dismay, the boy left at that moment, leaving her alone with the massive robot. To her surprise, however, the robot was quite gentle, maybe even careful as he lifted her up off the ground._

 _"Hello," the robot greeted, in a voice that sounded much too cheery for this situation. "I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion. You're going to be alright, just try and stay awake. Can you tell me your name?"_

 _Now that she was seeing him up close, that robot's silhouette seemed rather familiar...yes, she'd seen him before...on TV, maybe?_

 _Nonetheless, she coughed and answered his question. "M-my name is...Riley...Anderson."_

 _"Ok, Riley," the robot responded calmly. "We're going to get you to the hospital. There is some smoke in your lungs that needs to be cleared out, and we have to go right away..."_

 _Riley nodded weakly, as the teenage boy from earlier came running over, with four other teenagers in tow behind him._

 _"Come on, Baymax, let's get out of here!" the boy called, and the five of them all hopped into the robot's back._

 _Yes, she'd seen them before. She was sure of it. "Aren't..." she began. "Aren't you guys...Big Hero 6?"_

 _The robot's rocket boosters began to hum, and the girl felt herself being lifted into the air once more._

 _"Yes!" The boy called to her over the noise. "Don't worry, Riley! You're gonna be okay, I promise!"_

* * *

The last thing Riley could remember clearly was being on a field trip at the San Fransokyo Museum of History. She remembered as her class was invited to watch the unveiling of a new exhibit from afar. She remembered the excitement and the anticipation as everyone gathered to where it was being revealed, and she remembered the look of pride on the director's face.

After that, it was a blur. The lights had gone off, people were screaming. Things around her were breaking. She remembered panicking. She remembered falling.

Then, of course, there was Big Hero 6. Not many people could brag that they were personally rescued by the city's most famous superheroes. Riley hadn't been too happy when she'd been surrounded by news reporters in the hospital while she was trying to recover from smoke inhalation and several broken bones.

After three days, she was allowed to leave the hospital, and only then did she really get the full story on what had happened. As it appeared, Riley had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some delusional creep had decided to pull a supervillain-style theft on the museum's new artifacts, and had proceeded to hurt several people in the process-even setting some things on _fire._ Riley had been the unlucky one who had fallen down to the next story and blacked out before she was able to make it out of the building, thus prompting her rescue.

Luckily, the thief had been caught, the artifacts returned, and Riley was okay. She was glad that everything had worked out, but there was one thing that was still on her mind-the fact that she had seen two members of Big Hero 6 _up close._

For the next few days, she kept replaying that memory in her head over and over, trying to remember what they had looked like. The robot who had been called "Baymax" was pretty easy to remember, but as for the boy...she had seen his face distinctly, she knew it, but for the life of her, she couldn't remember what he had looked like. It seemed that the more she recalled the memory, the fuzzier it got. It was possible that she would never know.

But...she figured it was okay. After all, she was alive, and that was what mattered. There were more important things to focus on now-such as how much the incident had affected her parents. Riley would never forget the looks on their faces when they saw that she would be alright, and she couldn't imagine what they had felt when she was trapped in that building. Even after she assured them she'd be okay, they still seemed shaken and were often heard speaking of it among each other in hushed voices. Riley hoped they would get over it eventually, but she couldn't have been more wrong.

The announcement came over the dinner table one night, as Riley was busy thinking about what would happen at hockey practice this week. In the middle of her daydreaming, her mother leaned over to her with a gentle smile and cleared her throat.

"Riley..." Jill began gently. "There's something we want to talk to you about."

Riley looked up at her mother curiously. "What's up?"

Jill bit her lip nervously, and turned to her husband for support.

Riley's father, Bill, gave a sigh, and finally dropped the news on her: "We're moving, Riley. We're leaving the city."

Riley nearly dropped her fork in surprise. "Wh-what?! Why?"

Jill gave her husband an annoyed look and turned back to the girl. "What he means is that we're _thinking_ of moving, Riley. We haven't reached a decision yet."

"I have," the man grumbled.

"But why would we do that?" Riley snapped. "We literally _just_ moved here!"

"I know, honey," Jill said apologetically. "And I know the first move was stressful enough, but...we're worried."

"It's just not safe here," Bill added, sounding gentler this time. "There's crazy criminals running around this city, we can't risk staying here any more."

"But there's crazy criminals everywhere!" Riley argued. "At least this city has superheroes!"

"Riley, we can't always depend on Big Hero 6, can we? You were nearly killed!"

There was a silence across the table as Bill struggled to compose himself. Meanwhile, Riley felt sadness rush through her veins and she began to tear up. This couldn't be...she couldn't move again. She had just managed to start getting settled here.

Bill spoke up again. "Look, sweetie...I just want you to be safe. And that just doesn't seem to be the case here-"

"No!" Riley cried, standing up with a huff. "I'm perfectly safe! I don't wanna move!"

"Riley-"

"I don't wanna move!" She repeated, turning and heading up the stairs to her room.

"Riley, where are you going?" Jill called after her.

"To my room! I'm not hungry!"

If her parents called out to her after that, Riley never found out, because at that point she had gone into her room, slammed the door, and proceeded to plop herself down on her bed. Curling herself up into a ball, Riley began to cry on her pillow. This was no fair. It wasn't her fault the museum had been attacked! Why did she have to pay for it? Why did she have to move _again?_ Couldn't her parents see that she was fine?

The only thing she could do now was hope that this whole thing would blow over soon. Maybe all her parents needed was a little time...and they would decide to stay in San Fransokyo.

She hoped to God that she was right this time.

* * *

"Rileeeey!"

Riley felt a grin cross her face as her friend Jordan ran over to her, wearing an equally huge grin on his goofy face. This was her first day back at school since the accident, and boy, was she glad to see some of her friends again. She was finally in a good mood once more.

"Hey Jordan," she greeted happily. "What's up?"

"Nothing's up with me, what about you?" He asked in response. "Not dead, I see."

Riley laughed. "Nope. Still alive and kicking."

"How's your arm?"

Riley lifted up her broken arm a little, along with the sling it was in. "Getting better. I should be able to get out of the sling soon."

"Cool. Hey, uh...do you mind if I sign your cast?"

"Sure," the girl replied, moving the sling a bit to reveal an empty spot on her cast. "But don't take too long cause my mom will freak if I'm late coming home."

Jordan pulled out a marker and began to write a note. "How come?"

"I don't know," Riley replied with a frown. "She and Dad have just been...paranoid, I guess, since it happened."

"Makes sense...but, I think it's cool! You were rescued by Big Hero 6, huh? Did you see their faces?"

Riley giggled again. "Not really. I was too disoriented."

"Darn," Jordan replied, finally finishing his note. "That would have been cool if you knew what they looked like. Especially that blue kaiju one, I'd love to know if there's an actual human under that."

"The kaiju one actually reminds me of you," Riley told him with a snicker.

Jordan stared at the sky with that same goofy grin of his. "Sweeeet. I'd love to jump into the sky and breathe fire. I'd be like the fire god of San Fransokyo."

Riley giggled. "Maybe. Or everyone would think you're a demon and try to shoot you down."

"That seems more likely, actually."

She laughed. Jordan could be so cute sometimes. "Anyway, I have to go. See you tomorrow!"

"See ya!"

Riley was skipping down the sidewalk on her way home when, right on schedule, her phone rang and took the skip right out of her step. Sighing, Riley went ahead and picked up, not even bothering to check who it was. "Hey, mom."

" _Hi, sweetie. you heading home now?"_

"Yeah. I just stopped to talk to Jordan for a bit. I'm on my way."

" _Oh, ok. Be safe, ok, honey?"_

"Sure mom. Bye."

Riley hung up and stared up at the sky as she continued. She knew her mom meant well, checking up on her all the time...she felt a little guilty getting upset at them for it, but they had never been nearly this overprotective before. They used to never mind at all if she was a few minutes late coming home from school, but now it was like they couldn't even handle not knowing where she was for even a second. And that just kinda sucked.

Turning a corner, Riley suddenly spotted someone sitting on a bench near the edge of the sidewalk. This was no big deal-there was almost always someone sitting there, and it was usually best to walk by and not make any eye contact-but this one in particular caused her to stop for a moment. Something about this stranger caught her interest.

As discreetly as she could, Riley slowed down a little and cast cautious glances at the stranger. It was a boy, who looked to be a few years older than her. His black hair was long and messy, and his thin body was clothed in a baggy blue-gray hoodie and a pair of brown cargo shorts. He was leaning over and staring downward at his phone, so she wasn't really able to get a look at his face.

He didn't seem particularly attractive or anything, not by Riley's taste, so it was odd for her to stop and stare at him, but...something inside her told her that she should.

The girl hesitated for a moment, then took a small step closer so as to get a better look at his features. Unfortunately, she had lingered there for a little too long-the boy sensed her presence at that moment, and looked up to give her a defensive glare, staring straight into Riley's eyes.

But before she could get embarrassed about being caught, Riley froze in place and let out a small gasp.

 _No way!_

That triangular face, framed by those spiky black bangs, and those huge, almond-shaped eyes...there was no mistaking it. That fuzzy memory in her mind suddenly became clear as day, as if she was experiencing the event a second time, as everything finally lined up. Who would have thunk she'd run into him here, on the streets? But it was definitely him. The same boy. The one who had saved her. _This guy was from Big Hero 6!_

And apparently, he had recognized her as well.

The two of them stared at each other a moment longer, eyes wide as dinner plates when, without warning, he suddenly got off the bench and dashed in a panic down the sidewalk.

This immediately snapped Riley out of her shocked trance. "W-wait! Hey, come back!" Without really thinking about it, Riley chased the boy down the sidewalk, weaving between people as she went and not really paying attention to the direction she was headed.

The boy made a sharp turn into a side street in an attempt to lose her, and she went right after him. Just when it looked like she wouldn't be able to catch him, luck found its way to her-they boy crashed into an unforeseen obstacle and was sent falling backwards onto his behind, allowing Riley to catch up with him.

When she saw what he had bumped into, though, the girl felt herself slow down once again. This wasn't a wall or anything, it was a _robot._ A robot that looked like a huge, white, walking balloon. Where the heck had _this_ come from?

"Hello, Hiro," the robot greeted the boy, unfazed by their apparent collision. "I have returned with your-"

"Not now, Baymax!" Riley heard him whisper sharply. "We need to get out of here, come on!"

 _Baymax._ So it _was_ him. Riley couldn't believe her luck. "H-hey…" she began again, walking cautiously toward the duo. "Hold on a second…"

Hearing her voice, the robot stopped moving, despite his owner's attempts to drag him away, and looked to Riley. "Hello," it greeted in that familiar friendly voice.

"Hi...uh...s-sorry to bother you, but...I-I know you, don't I? Aren't you the one who…"

The boy bit his lip, but managed to force an obviously fake grin. "Y-you must be mistaken," he finally told her. "I-I've...never seen you before in my life…"

"Hiro, that is Riley Anderson," the robot declared helpfully. "Do you not remember? We saved approximately 4 days, 10 hours and 40 minutes ago."

"I knew it!" Riley cried triumphantly. "So it was you!"

The boy-apparently named Hiro-shot such a flabbergasted look at Baymax that Riley began to laugh. Turning red with embarrassment, he turned back to the girl and grit his teeth. "Listen," he began quietly, giving up his ruse at last. "That's supposed to be a _secret…"_

Riley's smile vanished and she looked downward in shame. "I-I'm sorry...I won't tell anyone, I don't even know you at all. I just…" she stopped for a moment. "I just wanted to thank you, is all. I probably would be dead right now if it wasn't for you."

Hiro's expression softened, and he smiled again, more genuinely this time. "Hey, no need to thank us. It's just...what we do. You know?"

"But isn't that dangerous?" Riley asked curiously.

Hiro shrugged. "Yeah, well...that's never stopped me before."

"Danger is our middle name," Baymax added, pointing a finger upward as he spoke.

Hiro stared up at him in confusion. "Where'd you learn that expression?"

"From Fred," the robot replied simply. Riley giggled at this, despite having no clue who "Fred" was.

Hiro rolled his eyes and went back to the conversation at hand. "Anyway...I'm happy to help. I kinda have to go now, though, so...see you later?"

Riley frowned and clenched her fists as the two began to leave. "Wait, Hiro?" she called softly, stopping them once more. She hesitated for a moment, then spoke again. "Uh...can I ask you something?"

"Uh, sure."

"You guys...are always gonna protect the city from danger, right?"

Hiro looked confused, and nodded slowly. "Yyyessss...that's kind of our job."

"It's just that...my parents are gonna make us leave because they think it's not safe here," she mumbled looking at the ground. "I-I just moved here from Minnesota, and it was really horrible. I don't wanna move again. S-so...if you keep the city safe, then we won't have to move, and…"

Riley trailed off and continued staring at the ground. She couldn't see Hiro's reaction to this, but she did hear a stunned silence that lasted a few long seconds.

"Hiro, your stress levels are rising slowly," Baymax observed.

"Y-yeah, thanks," the boy replied grumpily. He then gave a sigh and looked over to Riley seriously. "Listen, Riley...you know I can't guarantee anything...but, if it makes you feel better, we give it everything we've got to make sure San Fransokyo is safe. We'll never let anyone have a reason to feel threatened here, if we can help it. But if your parents want to move, then…"

Riley nodded sadly. "O-okay...sorry, I guess it really is none of your business…"

"It's okay," he said. "Hope it works out." Grinning, he held out his fist for a fist bump, as if it was his way of saying goodbye and wishing her good luck. Riley happily accepted his gesture, following suit when he boyishly made the bump explode in the air with a snicker.

"Thanks Hiro," she said sincerely. "I'd better get going now…" Her parents were going to _freak. "_ Thanks again."

He nodded in response, and they both turned to go their separate ways. Riley giddily started back the way she came...the stopped, realizing suddenly that she had lost her way.

Uncertainty settled into the small girl's mind as she shifted on her feet uncomfortably. It would appear that in her haste to catch up to Hiro, she had gotten herself lost in the streets. Oops.

Riley bit her lip as she listened to his retreating footsteps, wondering if she should bother him again. But then again, it was probably better to bug him a little bit than to end up lost-her parents would hire a bodyguard at that point. "Er...Hiro...?"

"Hiroooo!" a second voice suddenly called, interrupting Riley.

Slowly, the girl turned around once more, to see four older teenagers walking over to Hiro with smiles on their faces. Riley frowned for a moment, when she suddenly realized who the others must be. The tall blonde girl...the short one with the purple hair streaks, the buff guy in the green, and...wait, was that the kaiju one? He really did remind her of Jordan.

Hiro, unaware that Riley was approaching him again, grinned widely at his friends. "Hey, what the heck are you guys doing here? I thought we were meeting at the movies."

"We were," the dark-haired girl replied. "Until you took _forever_ to show up, so we went looking."

"Yeah, sorry. Baymax and I were just helping this girl out..."

One of the older ones, the larger dark-skinned guy, looked over to Riley and raised an eyebrow. "You mean _that_ girl?"

All six of them turned to face Riley, including Hiro, who just noticed that she was still there.

The tall blond girl's eyes widened. "Oh! That's...!"

"Riley," Hiro began. "I thought you left."

Riley stared at each one of them individually and stammered slightly. "I-I did, but...I lost my way and...is...is that the rest of the team?"

The dark-haired girl looked to Hiro sharply. "Huh? What does that mean?"

Hiro nervously rubbed the back of his neck and spoke quietly, "Uh, well...she may have sorta...kinda...recognized me?"

"Hiro, you _idiot!"_

"W-wait, no," Riley stammered, trying to get their attention once more. "I wasn't going to-"

"She knows too much!" the presumably-kaiju-guy declared. "We need to erase her memory! Baymax, quick! Use your memory erasing laser!"

"What?!"

"I do not have a memory erasing laser," Baymax informed him, his calm voice completely contrasting the rest of the team's panic.

"Fred for crying out loud!" the larger guy hissed. "We're in public!"

"E-excuse me!" Riley called again, getting their attention this time. How strange that the city's most famous superheroes could get into fights so quickly. "I-I promise I won't tell anyone. I j-just...found Hiro and wanted to say thanks, but..." she paused. "I-I seem to have gotten myself lost. I'm not really used to this city yet."

The five teens and one robot simply stared back at her blankly, as if not sure how to react. Finally, Baymax turned to his human friends and informed them, "Riley seems to be distressed. We should help."

This seemed to bring them back to reality. "Oh! Sure!" the tall blonde girl agreed. "We'll help you get back!"

Riley smiled widely with relief. "Really? Thank you! I-I just...need to get back to that bench where I met Hiro..."

"Oh yeah," said Hiro. "I know where that's at."

And thus began the rather awkward walk back home. It was a little odd to think that Big Hero 6, albeit without their super personas, were personally escorting her home, but it was the good kind of odd. Still, that didn't change the fact that they were strangers she didn't really know, and so the walk was silent and a little uncomfortable to say the least. The most talking that happened was the kaiju guy (was his name Fred?) insisting that a memory wipe was needed while the other team members told him to drop it.

Eventually, Riley decided to break the awkwardness and cleared her throat. "So, uh...Hiro. Did you invent Baymax on your own?"

Hiro looked to her and cracked a grin. "Nah. My brother invented him-he was the only person who would think that a puffy nurse robot needs to exist in this world." He and and others chuckled, quietly but good-naturedly. "But I upgraded him though. Made him into the hero you know and love."

"That's so cool," Riley gushed. "I wish I had a sibling to build stuff with-that sounds fun, like a best friend who lives with you."

There was a darkness that flashed in Hiro's eyes for a moment, before he looked down and barely whispered, "Y-yeah..." The dark-haired girl pushed her way over to him and squeezed his hand reassuringly.

Before Riley could wonder about this, the tall girl leaned over to her with a friendly smile. "So, Riley," she said. "How's your arm doing? You feeling better?"

Riley nodded. "Yeah. The doctor said I should get the sling off soon."

"Riley's injuries are healing," Baymax said happily. "Keep pressure off your arm, and you should be fine."

"Ok," Riley replied, and it was quiet again. "So...what are your guys' names, anyway? I-I mean...unless they're secret or something..."

"No worries," said Hiro. He pointed to the girl next to him, who was still loosely holding his hand. "This is GoGo, that's Wasabi, Honey Lemon, and Fred."

"Huh. Interesting names."

"You can thank Fred for that," Wasabi told her.

"You're welcome," Fred replied nonchalantly. "Still trying to come up with a nickname for myself, though. I was thinking 'The Amazing Fire Lizard', but that's kinda long."

"I was thinking 'Otaku,'" Hiro teased.

"I was thinking 'Doofus,'" added GoGo.

"Thanks, guys, I'll take that into consideration," Fred told them, sticking his tongue out childishly.

Riley chuckled with the rest, noting that they had long since passed the bench they were going for. Without saying a word, she took the lead and started leading them to her house, not really wanting this conversation to end. Who would think that Big Hero 6 was just a normal group of friends, like the ones she had at school?

"How about..." Riley began, "Fire God?"

Fred's eyes widened. "Oooh. I like that one."

"That's _way_ too cool," Wasabi complained. "Why would he get that while I'm stuck with 'Wasabi'?"

"My friend came up with it," Riley explained, turning to Fred. "For your kaiju form, I mean. He's a big fan of yours."

"Awwww, really?" He looked over to GoGo with a smug grin. "See, GoGo? I _do_ have fans. Told you."

"They just don't know the real you," GoGo retorted, making them all snicker again.

The chatter continued, and Riley took a regular part in it as if she had known them her whole life. Eventually, however, all good things must come to an end, and Riley soon found that the group was right in front of her house.

She slowed to a stop and looked down sadly. "I...I guess we're here..."

"Oh, is this your house?"

"Yeah," she replied, staring to head slowly up the steps to her porch. "Thanks again, guys...for everything."

"Anytime, sweetie!" Honey Lemon chirped. "Take care, okay?"

"See you soon, Riley," said Hiro, as the team waved goodbye and began to leave.

"Bye, thanks for the nickname!" called Fred, and a few groans could be heard afterward.

Riley giggled again, her heart beating in pure joy. But before they had gone too far, the door opened up to reveal her mother, with a relieved smile on her face. "There you are, Riley," she sighed. "You took longer than usual."

"Sorry," Riley told her, feeling a bit guilty at making her worry. As she stepped into the house, she spotted her father arranging some things on the table.

"Hey," Bill greeted. "What took so long, sport?"

"I bumped into some friends along the way," the girl explained, her elated smile returning to her face. "Got a little caught up talking to them. But they walked me home after."

"Did they?" Jill asked. "That's nice of them," She then turned to look out the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of the friends Riley spoke of.

"Well, try not to take so long next time, honey," Bill told his daughter gently. "It's just...you know..."

Riley didn't stop smiling. "Dad, you can stop worrying now. I'm safe. My friends kept me safe, just like I said."

Bill looked confused, but she paid him no mind and began skipping merrily up the stairs. "Anyway, I have homework now, so I'll see you guys."

Her father sipped on a cup of coffee, looking up the stairs where Riley had gone. "Wonder what she meant by that…" he mumbled to himself.

"Honey…" Jill suddenly called from the window. "Can you come here? Check out these...friends of Riley's."

Bill frowned and walked over to where his wife was standing. "What? Do they look dangerous or something?"

"No...quite the opposite actually," making room for her husband to stand next to her, the wide-eyed woman pointed out the window, to where the teenagers were still taking their time walking slowly out the street. "Don't they...seem kinda familiar? Especially that huge robot…"

Bill stared at his wife in confusion and leaned forward to get a closer look at the retreating group of teens. Huh. She was right. They did seem kinda familiar. That big robot almost looked like the one that had carried Riley to safety the other day, except...with no red armor...no. No, it couldn't be.

Shocked, Bill scanned the rest of the group, mentally taking note of each individual one. There were six of them. _Six._ But...there had to be more than one random group of teens with a big robot in this city, right? San Fransokyo was crawling with robots.

And yet...he couldn't shake the feeling that these were in fact the same people.

Leaning back, eyes still wide, Bill took another sip of his beverage. "L-let's not jump to conclusions," he told his wife, along with himself. "That could be anyone." He turned back to where he was before, then stopped for a moment. "Hey, Jill…" he started. "Do you think...maybe we could re-think this moving thing? I mean...we _just_ moved here."

Jill smiled at him, taking another glance at the window. "Yeah," she agreed. "Yeah, I think so too."

Upstairs, Riley was practically dancing in her room as she plopped her backpack on the ground. Not even lame old homework was gonna ruin her good mood now. It kinda sucked that she couldn't tell her friends about her encounter, with it being a secret and all, but it didn't change anything. She'd met Big Hero 6! And talked to them and hung out with them!

In just a few days, this group of teenagers had gone from being abstract protectors of the city, to being her personal heroes and now, her friends. To say that she was honored would be the biggest understatement in history. This was truly the best day of her life.

* * *

 **A/N: Hiro and Riley have become a huge BroTP for me lately, so I felt compelled to write this one-shot about how she met him, along with the rest of Big Hero 6. This is also a present to people like me, who want to read an IO/BH6 crossover that doesn't involve Hiriley. 'Cause, you know...nothing against that ship, but it's taking up like three-fourths of the archive and I thought I'd bring something new to the table.**

 **If you're wondering who Jordan is, he's the curly haired boy at the end of Inside Out who was smitten by Riley. He's gonna appear in a short called "** _ **Riley's First Date?"**_ **and I'm pretty damn excited because Joriley is love (yes, Jordan is his canon name).**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this! Ending was a bit half-assed, but I'm pretty happy with it overall. Don't forget to review~**


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